Connectors that doubly latch electrical contacts by means of a housing lance that extends from an inside wall of an insulating housing to a contact compartment (i.e., the primary latching means), and a double-lock member formed separately from the insulating housing (i.e., the secondary latching means), in order to ensure latching of the contacts inside the insulating housing of the connector are known. Examples of such a double-lock member include one that latches the rear end of the electrical wire-connecting part of the contacts (see Japanese Patent Publication 1-43986), and one that reinforces the latching by the housing lance with engagement between the housing lance and the insulated housing inner wall (see Japanese Patent Application 1-64872).
A bolt-tightened connector that has a bolt in either of a pair of connector housings that fit together and has a nut that screw-meshes with the bolt in the other connector housing is also known. However, a bolt-tightened connector with a double-lock member has not been known heretofore.
A bolt-tightened connector with a double-lock member can be produced by attaching the conventional double-lock member described above to the conventional bolt-tightened connector described above. However, if the pair of connector housings were tentatively latched and the bolt and nut were in a state in which they could screw-mesh, a strong force was needed to screw-mesh the bolt and nut even when the double-lock member was incompletely inserted. Therefore, there was a risk that the pair of connector housings would be forcibly fitted together by this screw-meshing, resulting in damage to the double-lock member of connector housings. Additionally, even if the connector housings were fitted together, the double-lock member was incompletely inserted and so there was a risk that the contacts would drop out.
In view of the above situation, the objective of this device is to provide a bolt-tightened connector that places the bolt in an unengaged state, not screw-meshed with the nut, when the double-lock member is incompletely inserted.